12-12-12 Sandy Benefit Serves Up Rock and Roll Surprises

Krist Novoselic, Paul McCartney and Dave Grohl perform at the “12-12-12″ Sandy benefit concert at Madison Square Garden on December 12, 2012 in New York City.

A concert that began with Bruce Springsteen professing deep love for New Jersey in “My City of Ruins” ended with Alicia Keys delivering an emotional tribute to New York with “Empire State of Mind (Part II).”

“I was born and raised in New York City,” Keys said. ”I still live right down the street in New York City. This is our city. This is everybody’s city…I love my city.”

In between, a dizzying array of the world’s top performers pranced across the red carpet, blared their most renowned songs, told raunchy jokes, made subtle political statements and urged those watching to give. The event — a star-studded fete even by New York standards — sold out Madison Square Garden and was available to nearly two billion people across the world, organizers said.

The “12-12-12″ Sandy relief concert raised more than $30 million before the concert, said David Saltzman, executive director of the Robin Hood Foundation. Final figures weren’t available, but he said “tens of thousands” more donated during the concert.

Saltzman said every performer volunteered their time, and corporate sponsors picked up the event’s tab.

There were moments you’d expect from such an event: Billy Joel soulfully blasted ballads, The Rolling Stones rocked their greatest hits and Eric Clapton crooned.

Other scenes were more unorthodox. Kanye West wore a kilt. Adam Sandler delivered a spoof on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” rhyming the word with “Sandy screw ya.” R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Coldplay’s Chris Martin appeared together for a version of “Losing My Religion.” Garden State rockers Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen joined forces. And Paul McCartney reunited a Kurt Cobain-less Nirvana with Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear.

Humor tinged much of the night. Many of the performers were aging rockers, leading Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones to say ”this has got to be the largest collection of old English musicians ever assembled in Madison Square Garden.” Chris Rock introduced West as humble, drawing a loud chorus of laughter. Stephen Colbert joked that that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon got his name because he was paid in diamonds.

As for Mr. Dimon? He was in the audience “rocking out to The Who,” Saltzman said.

Like other celebrity-studded events, stars paraded across the red carpet in the press room, posing for paparazzi and answering questions. A celebrity phone bank was nearby, and many, like Jimmy Fallon, answered calls. Chelsea Clinton stopped by. So did Amare Stoudemire. And Jesse Jackson. And Martha Stewart.

By the end of the concert six hours later, the question seemed to be: who wasn’t at Madison Square Garden?

Many gave heaping and unsolicited praise to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Billy Crystal said the governor threw “politics and Mitt Romney aside” to do well by his state. Steve Van Zandt, of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, called him a good leader and friend.

Between certain acts, there were vignettes, which incorporated victims whose homes and lives were ravaged by Sandy. Some victims and volunteers appeared live at the concert, but many others were filmed beforehand.

“I wanna go home, I wanna go home,” one woman wailed in a video. Later, cameras showed the devastation of Staten Island, where muddied sofas and piles of debris sat in the street weeks after the storm.

Richie Sambora, the lead guitarist for Bon Jovi, said his mother now lives with him because the storm wrecked her home.